Monday, March 5, 2012

Family Trail Walk

We are loving this beautiful weather and mild temperatures. Time to come out of hibernation and get back outside!

We went for a family walk yesterday around some of the fabulous trails in our town. The kids were exceptionally cute in their cowboy hats and sunglasses.

Although the temps were in the 70's, Rachel insisted on wearing a sweatshirt vest AND mittens.

There is a cool walking tunnel that goes under one of the main streets in town.

The kids love it in here!

There is a Christian song that we like that says, "There's a light at the end of this tunnel, there's a light at the end of this tunnel for you". Nicholas knew that we were going to a playground at the end of this walk so he adjusted the song a little for our outing to say, "There's a playground at the end of this tunnel." Check out the video....

I love to just watch the kids in the great outdoors. They both love sticks!

And blowing dandelion seeds.

If you are still you just might get to see a squirrel up close.

Sweet Nicholas picked little weed flowers for me along our walk but he also drew a flower in the dirt for me. Such a sweet boy.

Rachel is more cautious about things than Nicholas but she was enjoying climbing down rocks to get a better view of the creek than ran along the trail we were on.

Daddy followed her down to talk to take a look around too.

This is a nice paved trail that I walked many times back when Nicholas was in a stroller. It is pretty with all the trees plus there are benches, picnic tables, and trash cans along the way. It's nice and clean and an easy walk. It is really more of a greenbelt between some houses and the creek and it leads to the Duck Pond where the kids love to play or you can follow it a different direction and end up on a busy street where there are lots of restaurants and shopping.

This is a smaller pond that drains from the duck pond. The boys checked it out and talked about where along the bank would make for a good fishing spot.

Rachel and I hung out on this ledge and took a little water break. I amazingly got her to pose for a few pictures.

She usually doesn't stay in one place long enough to pose for me!

Nicholas and Rachel enjoyed watching the ducks swim around.

While the boys stopped for water, Nicholas decided to try to make a fishing pole out of a stick and a long blade of grass. He wanted to whittle a hook from a stick! I love his resourcefulness. Someday I'll have to let him watch a re-run of MacGyver!

We decided not to cross the street to get to the Duck Pond since the kids would want to play on the playground for a while but we had to get back to get ready for a hockey game. But as we were heading back, we discovered a little area of the creek that had three ropes dangling from a tree. We couldn't easily reach them from our side of the creek so Nicholas crossed the creek to check them out.

They were perfect for swinging across the creek but just a little too high for Nicholas to reach.

Daddy crossed over too and checked out the ropes. He could reach them and they seemed strong enough to be able to swing from. Rachel and I watched as Daddy almost went swinging across the creek.

However, the boys decided to save the swinging for another day. The other side of the creek didn't make for a good landing spot and there was a long walk to have to make to get back home in drenched clothes.

As they climbed up out of the creek, Rachel greeted them and offered water.

We started again to head back but the boy was super excited to find this ladder built on the side of a tree.

Which had to be climbed!

Rachel occupied herself with more sticks while Nicholas was climbing.

She had a whole branch that she dragged for quite a way down the sidewalk.

We found another cool spot that had two fallen trees spanning the creek.

Well, of course, we had to check that out!

Nicholas started crawling across the creek on one of the fallen trees.

As the tree got more narrow, he ended up scooting along until he got to the other side.

He was having a blast!

On the way back, he actually walked along part of the tree while holding Stuart's hand. Brave boy!

Unfortunately, Rachel still enjoys pouring out her drinking water. It's just fun to make little puddles but then she has no water to drink when she gets thirsty.

But we were almost done with the trail by then and had to get home to get Nicholas ready for his game. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon with our family. I really needed that special time together and getting outdoors always helps to replenish my spirits and energize my soul.